Cutting machine



Nov. 19, 1929.

J. M. TOWNS-END y l 1,736,143

durum MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 1?, 192a J- TOWNSEND CUTTING MACHINE v 5 Sheet -s 2 Filed Jan. 1'7,

Nov. 19, 9.

N v. 9; 9 9- v J. M. TOWNSEND I 1,736,143

CQI'TING MACHINE Filed Jan. 17, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Nov. 19, 1929 C ZE HAM TON, MASSACHUSETTS CUTTING MACHINE Application filed January 17, 192,8. Seria N 2 75 1 This invention relates to cutting machines and with respect to certain more specific features thereof, to machines particularly adapt ed for making the zigzag form of cut commonly used in the fur industry for trimming 5 skins to be pieced.

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So far as presently known, no machine has ever beforebeen produced which would satis- "factorily operate to trim the hides offur bearing animals and this work has been done in 'a slow, laborious fashion by hand. It is essential that in cutting the skin, the fur should be left in an overhanging condition order that the union of the two pieces may? be concealed by the natural fur of the bide The present invention hasfor one ofits objects to provide an automatically operatmg machine which will make the series of V-shaped cuts necessary to produce thez g- .zagline of cutting common to the fur 1ndustry. While the machine shown anddescribed herein hasbeen designed'especially for the cutting of fur, it will be obvious that the invention would have application to other materials having tufts,"pile, or hair with a backing layer to be cut.

Another object is to produce a small machine, which will quickly'and eifectively cut the material, which may be operated by relatively unskilled operators and which shall be inexpensive to produce.

The invention accordingly consists in the various features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangements of parts whichwill beexemplified by the drawing and the following description and :the' scope of the ap lication 'of which will be indicated in the I appended claims.

' Referring now to the drawings wherein is shown one of various possible embodiments J of the invention:

' Figure 1 isavi'ew in front. elevation of the improved fur cutting machine with feeding .45 trate the cutting andpressing actions.

mechanism broken away to more clearly illus- FigureEZ isa left .end elevation of the machine shown in Figure 1. I;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional viewtaken through the cutting knife.

Figures afand ,5 are detail views of the ciittingknife. v

Figure 6 is a. top plan View of the table showing the arrangement of points which supportthe material directly adjacent the "knife in the cutting operatio f Figure 7 is a. view in vertical section of the machine shown in Figure 1 butwith the feeding; mechanism included. 1 1

Figure 8 isan enlargedsectional viewtaken 1. on the line 88 of Figure 6. H

a l-shaped series of pointed :pins arranged in parallel rowsfand between which the knife blade enters and recedesin the operation of the machine. The tandards 21 and 22 also provide journal bearings for a'maindriving shaft 30 which maybe-driven ,rby anelectric 31 5 motor asindicatedat31. JThetable 23 provides bearings for longitudinally spaced shafts32 and 33- which are connected atltheir tops by a bar or plate 34: which SBIVeSRS a supporting plate fora V-shaped shearing 19 knife 35. The shafts 32 and 33. are each ex tended downwardly into the form of ayoke 36, which straddles theain driving shaft.

The yoke is in; each instance provided with a '38 in each of a painof operatingeams .39 and V cam roller .37 which engages in a cam groov .40 which are in turn fixed for rotation with the main drivingshaft. ,Ears or lugs 41 and 42 are provided on the table -23'itoserve as bearings for two vertically arranged -;and ago s-p'gfied rods 43 and i which are connected toer at their topends by a bar 45. which has secured :to .it a resser member -46 v preferablyjconstrnctedof ajmetal plate 47 having its bottom provided with :a similarly shapeda afi piece 5L8 of fibre .or other suitable contacting material. lhe presser pla e and th con- 'tactin g materialare suitably slotted as at 50 to allow relative movement of the knife The vertically extending 1,100

blade vertically."

neck a presser feed roller 61 is arranged for- I contact with the material to be cut. This roller is adapted for intermittent rotation by means controlled from I the main driving shaft and these means are timed to cause 'the fur or tuft side downwardly,

a step feed of the material after the knife has been withdrawn. These means'will be later described more in detail.

r The operation of the 'machine is" as follows :,The main driving shaft, rotated clockwise as shown in 'Figur es 2 and 3-of the drawings, causes continuous reciprocatory movement of the preSserbarand knife; with provision for firstmoving the presser member into holding contact with the mateiral to be cut and subsequent downward movement of the knife to. shear the skin ofthe material. As the knife'passes presser: member and engages with the material which is presented to the machine with shears the resistant part of the material, that is, the skin, and the soft yieldable tuft or hair is allowed to temporarily escape fromthe knife between thepointed pins arranged in the double V-shaped series in the table. Owing to this construction, a V-shaped cut -is produced in the hide, which is entirely defin ite on-the skin,'-=but which leaves the tuft or fur without being severed from the material, excepting of course 'such tuft or fur asis rooted directly in'the cut out piece. The

downward movement of the pressermember is eife'cted by the weight of the presser bar and'its connecting rods when thehigh part of the cams iiiand has'pa'ssed in'its rotary movement the potato]? contact with the cam rollers 52, thereby allowing thefcam rollers to drop to thelow part of thecam and the presser to contact by weight with theniaterial tobe out. A similar action is presentin effecting the downward movement of the knife,

7, the cam operatingshaft'."

rue-next 'action is the return or upward the cams 39 and 40bei'ng so" arranged relatively to the cams Maud 5 5 that theghighparts of the' fi'rstsaid cams pa'ss their cooperating ca mfrollers ahout 90 laterlin the rotation of This "allows the cutterto' drop by wei'ght, following 'the 'presser, when its rollers hayereachedthe lo w pori can oftheir 1 cams, at which time," the "knife has penetrated not onlythefgroove'jof the thetable 23 and its through the slot i n the :the knife "retract the pawl 72.

"In thisway, any length'ofmaterial may be out according to a pre-determined edge de- SlgIl; 1

Adjustable guides 57 and 58 are provided on the work table. The material to be cut is placed flat on the table with an edge against these guides. Inasmuch" as the material as a rule does not runwith regular straight line edges, butis'naturally irregular, and further asit is often desiredto cut a curved or irregular line of cut, some machines'attempted have been unsuccessful because a line of cut ting has been contemplated." "The present invention in one aspect involves a single cutter with afeeding device as shown in Figures 7 and 10 of the drawings, whereby the is given a step feed, automatically presenting successive portions of the material to the cutter in such fashion that by slight manual manipulation a-zig-zag line of feed would be produced following the natural line ofthe; pelt or any pr'e-determined pattern;

' The feeding device comprises the overhanging arrn orgoosemeck 60 secured to the table 23 at the rear and having rotatively mounted therein the feed. roller 61. 1 At the? back of the feed roller a ratchet wheel 62 is secured, both the roller and ratchet'wheel being'free to rotate on a stud shaft 7 0 fixed in a spring pressed box 70 arranged ina slot 70 in the arm.;' There is also arranged for rotation on the stud 'shaft a pawl-carrying arm 71 having a pivotally mounted pawl 72 at its free end. The arm 71 is'connecte'd by a link 7 3 with one arm 74 of 'a bell crank lever 75, the latter being rotatably' mounted on a; pin 7 6 projecting from an ear 7? of the overhanging arm 60. The other arm of the bell crank lever is'spring controlled as indimaterial cated at 81 to urge'the lever'to a position to I crank 'lever is also providedwit'h apin 82 vadapted to engage with a depending 83 carried by the plate 34 which carries the cutter. This engagement is through a slot 84L in'the finger; so-th'at the upwardmovement of the cutter carrying plate may continue to some extent before the edgeat the bottom end of the slot 84L picks up the pin 82. Continued upward movement of the cutter carrying .plate and its connected finger causes a rotative movementof the pawl throughithe link and" lever mechanism just described Q and the The arm 80 of the bell? finger ratchet is rotated a', predetermined distance carrying with it the feed roller 61." "The amount of this movement may be varied-by adjusting the tween the link 73 and the lever 74; As the pawl to its original position against a'stop 9O ready for the next step of feed. A spring 91 bearing on the block 70, creates an effective pressure of the feed roller 61 onthe material to be fed and cut. A toggle-knee device 92 on the stud supporting portion of the goose-neck 60 permits of breaking the latter at that point so that the material can be introduced and also in order to allow for manual feed without obstruction to the vision.

By the mechanism just described the ma terial is automatically advanced a distance corresponding to the width of one cut. Manual manipulation is relied upon to cause the material to follow the desired edge pattern but it will be obvious that many of the well known types of edge pattern devices might be used to cause the material to feed forwardly along some pre-determined ir' regular path.

One of the important advantages of the invention results from the construction of the material supporting device which cooperates with the cutting knife. By the series of pointed pins provided and arranged to contact with the hair side of the material the lat ter is effectively supported and a shearing reinforcement is provided while at the same time the amount of hair actually held under restraint is reuuced to a minimum. It therefore follows that little, if any, of the hair actually rooted in the untrimmed body of the material is cut or shortened. All of the hair not entirely restrained at the time of the cutting will yield into the spaces provided by the taperingpoints of the pins.

The cutting knife is given a shearing edge from a low central point 95 upwardly at each side of said point at an angle of approximate- 1 45. v antage in cutting but serves to some extent to cam the hair contacting with the pin points out of contact and into the'spaces hereinbefore mentioned;

a frame, a movable cutter on said frame, a:

Having described the invention what I claimas new is 1. In a machine of the character described,

shearing member composed of spaced pointed elements directly cooperative with said cutter and adapted to support the material to be cut..

2. In a machine of the character described,

a movable shear, a fixed shear composed of a series of fixed pointed elements cooperative with said movable shear and directly contacting with the material adjacent the line of movement of the movable shear.

3. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a work table, a knife movable toward and from said table, a shearing and pin and slot connection be This not only provides the usual adsupporting element fixed on said table, said element comprising a'series of spaced contacting points forming a shearing wall so closely paralleling the cutting line of the knife as to share therewith in the cutting action; I

4-. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a movable knife and two series of tapering g site side respectively of the path of the knife in cutting, rial contacting points whichback up the material to be cut as it is acted upon by the knife. 5. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a knife of angular cross sectionhaving cutting edges receding from a lower central point, a shearing element cooperative therewith comprising a J shaped'ar rangcment of tapering teeth which contact by their points with the material to. be cut and support the substance of said'material, and

which provide sufiicient shearing edge to cause cutting of the material in cooperation with the knife, and means adapted to cause relative movement between the said knife and the shearing element.

6. In a machine of the character described, in combination, a movable cutter, a slot formea of two series of upstanding pins spaced apart at their tops, means for moving the cutter into and out of the slot to cut a hide supported on the spaced tops of said pins, one of the series of pins being positioned close to the path of the cutter so as to share in the shearing action while permitting the hair of the hide to yield into the spaces be tween the pin tops.

7. In a machine of the character in combination, a frame, ported thereby, frame, means for catory movement described,

a knife supported by said of said knife, a shearing device supported by the table comprising two series of pointed pins respectively arranged on opposite sides of the path of movement of said knife, the upper points of said pins being adapted to contact with the work to be .oper- JOSEPH M. TOWNSEND.

a work table "supcausing continuous recipromembers arranged on oppo- 

